This is a repository of useful resources I have found or developed through the years. This page is broken up into the following sections:
- Yoder’s Resources – I have developed.
- Online Resources and Articles – A collection of great websites and online articles.
- Useful Product Websites – Vendors that offer products I have found useful for astronomy.
Yoder’s Resources
Here you will find links, documents, and files to resources I have developed through the years.
- Allsky Cam – Show current sky, timelapse of last nights sky, and startrails from last night
- Weather Underground: 10 day Weather Forecast
- Astrospheric – Current Radar Map
- This Years Astronomical Events – A list of astronomical events occurring for the year.
- Astrophotography Targets – A list of possible astronomical deep-sky targets for imaging.
- Hardware – Most hardware I use.
- Software – Software used for image capture and processing or planning.
- Educational Material and Presentations
- Class: Beginners Guide to Small Telescopes
- Class: Planetary Imaging Primer
- 3D Printed Astronomy Accessories – A few tools I have developed to make observational astronomy easier.
Yoder’s Astronomical Targets for Observation (Revision 2024-06) – The list I developed below is for the Phoenix metro area(33 degrees latitude, with UTC of -7hrs), so should work pretty well be good for folks living in roughly the same latitude (+/- 5 degrees) and adjusting for your time zone. The list was developed from various books and online list. I then filtered the list for small to medium size telescopes (5″ – 11″) . The list was developed in the AstroPlanner application and then ported to various other formats that can be downloaded and utilized. Not all objects exported to some formats, and this is why the number of targets may vary between list. The list includes the following items:
- 59 Carbon Stars
- 55 Double Stars
- 17 Triple Stars
- 29 Multiple Stars
- 51 Galaxies
- 50 Open Clusters
- 39 Globular Clusters
- 7 Dark Nebula
- 11 Emission Nebula
- 7 Planetary Nebula
| Format | Extension | Download | Targets | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AstroPlanner | .apd |  | 260 | |
| Sky Safari Pro | .skylist |  | 223 | Not all items exported from Astro Planner to Sky Safari |
| Excel | .xlsx |  | 260 | Sorted in order of: Constellation | Type | Transit Time | |
 | 260 | Sorted in order of: Constellation | Type | Transit Time | |
Stars of interest
Astronomy in the big city can be a challenge, don't let that stop you! Here in the Phoenix metro area with a population of about 5 million people and quite bright skies at night the deep sky objects such as nebula and galaxies are pretty much off limits. However, there is still plenty to see including the Sun, Moon, Planets and Various stars including Carbon Stars, and multiple star systems. I have compiled a list of Carbon and multiple star systems that might be worth checking out.
As of 2025-03-16 I have compiled a list of 306 stars and star systems to check out. This list is provided below in various formats.
Resources for further research:
• Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Observers Handbook
• Double Stars for Small Telescopes (Sissy Haas)
• Observing Visual Double Stars (Paul Couteau)
• The Cambridge Double Star Atlas 2nd Edition (Bruce MacEvoy, Wil Tirion)
• alcyone software: Search the Bright Star Catlogue (Website)
List have been sorted by Constellation.
| Format | Extension | Download | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| AstroPlanner | .apd | | |
| Sky Safari Pro | .skylist | | |
| Excel | .xlsx | | |
|
Online Resources and Articles
Provided below is a list of various online resources
- Observation and Imaging Planning
- Weather
- Astrospheric – Another good toll for determining seeing, and forecast.
- MetroBlue – Great info on seeing for planetary imaging and Astrophotography.
- Planets
- Planetarium
- The Sky Live – Online Planetarium to see what’s up tonight.
- StarAtlas – Simpler planetarium website.
- Telescopius – Information on objects in the sky, also can determine what object will look like for you setup.
- Weather
- Tools
- Astronomy Tools – Various online calculators.
- Dave’s Astro Tools – List of various free applications.
- Field of View Calculator – Given the specifications for your telescope and eyepiece see how bit an object will appear.
- Light Pollution Map – Lookup how much light pollution is at your location with this handy map.
- Weekly Comet Information – List of current comets and data associated with them.
- Educational
- Agena Astro: Astronomy Threads Explained
- Sky and Telescope: Astronomy for beginners: How to get started in backyard astronomy
- One-Minute Astronomer: How to Choose a Telescope – Video Series
- CsmicPursuits: Guide to Choosing Binoculars and Telescopes
- A Beginner’s Guide to Stargazing and Astrophotography – Good resource for anyone considering getting into this hobby
- Go Astronomy – General Astronomy website
- AstroBackyard – Great overall resource on Astrophotography, Hardware Reviews and techniques – Trevor Jones
- Phase of the moon – Nice graphical explanation of the moon phase in relation to the earth
- Bortle Scale – Numeric values assigned to describe how dark the sky is.
- Organizations and Groups
- East Valley Astronomy Club (EVAC) – Astronomy club located in the Phoenix East Valley
- Superstition Mountain Astronomy League (SMAL) – Another East Valley astronomy group
- Saguaro Astronomy Club (SAC) – Phoenix Metro area astronomy club
- Cloudy Nights – A great astronomy website with various forums.
- Discussions/Email Distribution List
- AZ-Observing – Arizona astronomers with many discussions on astronomy related topics.
- East Valley Astronomy Club Announce – Announcements from EVAC.
- SuperMtnAstro – Superstition Mountain Astronomy League discussion group.
- SAC-forum – Discussion forum for Saguaro Astronomy Club.
Useful Product websites
This list of websites are various vendors that supply equipment for astronomy.
- EllumiGlow – EL Panels used to construct a flat frame box.
- First Contact Polymer – Cleaning Optics
- Astromart – Purchase used equipment